PS5 and Xbox Series X, dissipation in comparison: a test analyzes the airflow

PS5 and Xbox Series X, dissipation in comparison

PS5 and Xbox Series X have been put under the magnifying glass again, in this case to analyze the effectiveness of heat dissipation and airflow management. Find the video below.

This is not a test to compare the temperatures and noise of PS5 and Xbox Series X, but something different: a deeper look at the operation of the thermal solutions adopted by Sony and Microsoft.

Using Schlieren photography, also known as strioscopy, the guys from Gamers Nexus took the two next-gen consoles and filmed them with a special lens made to highlight air turbulence.

Xbox Series X and the famous upper grill for expelling hot air. Xbox Series X is the platform that has returned the most predictable results, since it adopts solutions very close to those of PCs with small form factor and a chimney-style dissipation system.

The air is therefore sucked in by the slits located in the lower part of the console, crosses the body (although less efficiently than would be possible, according to Gamers Nexus) cooling the components and is ejected upwards, tending to converge in the center.

This type of solution obviously does not go well with a placement of the platform within confined spaces, which can prevent the normal venting of hot air and on the contrary end up making it go back down, to be sucked in again and thus produce higher temperatures .

PS5 seen from behind: here are the slits from which the hot air comes out. The PlayStation 5 heat dissipation system, as known, works differently: the PS5 teardown revealed the presence of a huge fan that sucks the air from the front slits of the console, uses it to cool the components and the ejects from the slits on the back.

However, it seems evident that, in terms of efficiency, this solution is less refined than the one adopted by Microsoft engineers. This is demonstrated, in particular, by the fact that the flow of hot air is concentrated in the central part of the back of the console, avoiding the bottom due to the presence of the power supply.

As mentioned, the test has been carried out solely to dynamically observe the functioning of the dissipation system of the two machines, regardless of the concrete results obtained in terms of operating temperatures.

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